The Jobs Critic for province’s official opposition says it would be nice if public health provided details on rules for restaurants and bars more than two days ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.
Dr. Bonnie Henry is set to provide more details around regulations on Friday.
BC Liberal Party MLA Todd Stone says the vast majority of owners in the hospitality sector have been operating in good faith and it’s not fair to them to wait to provide clarity.
“With as much advanced notice as possible on whether or not any of the health restrictions that are currently in place today are going to change for Super Bowl Sunday. This isn’t about the Super Bowl per se, it is about respecting a sector that has been trying really hard to do the right thing.”
“The vast majority of restaurant, pub owners, folks in the hospitality business, are people that have in good faith working hard to do the right thing, to certainly adhere to all public health restrictions to this point. And so moving forward, it’s just not right, it’s not fair for this sector, the hospitality sector, not to have clarity.”
CEO of the BC Restaurant Association Ian Tostenson is also frustrated with the timing and believes the messaging delays could have to do with the situation up at Whistler and he notes that there shouldn’t be broad brush approaches that hurt the industry.
“We’re concerned about the remarks that Dr. Henry made that we’ll get back to you Friday and let you know about the health orders, there may be changes. And she also said don’t stock up on your supplies. I’m thinking that’s not fair. You can’t say on a Friday to something on a Sunday. If the answer is don’t do this and shut it down, then we’ll do that if that’s what we have to do for the sake of the community.”
“I think Dr. Henry likes to look at the numbers and say ‘boy they’re looking pretty good so we can kind of loosen up here’. So she runs it right down to the finish line and then so what happened on New Year’s [Eve] she went ‘nah, we don’t feel good about these numbers’ and so they made the decision. I think that was one approach.”
Tostenson adds that another approach could be that providing too much notice will allow people to make alternative plans. Stone says if that is a thought then it is a bit of a stretch.
Tostenson thinks we will see a doubling down on Friday to make sure that the industry is delivering a safe environment. As an example, Tostenson says Dr. Henry could come out and say no alcohol can be served after kick off which is set for about 3:30 in the afternoon. He says if that were to happen, it should be done days in advance.
